Intranet Implementation From a bright idea to a mature asset

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Intranet Implementation From a bright idea to a
mature asset

• Rens Scheepers, Ph.D.
• Department of Information Systems
• The University of Melbourne

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Seminar Outline

• Whats an intranet (really) ?
• Background Research Approach
• Theoretical base
• Key results
• Further research issues

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Leavitt's diamond model of organisational
change.
Leavitt, H.J. (1964). Applied organizational
change in industry structural, technical and
human approaches.
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Being technology specific in information systems
research

• A good deal of discourse about computerization
  focuses on a convenient fiction called the
  computer system. The computer-based systems that
  people and groups actually develop and use differ
  in important technical and social ways. These
  differences often seem to matter.
• the convenience becomes a liability if our
  conceptual language is imprisoned in talk about
  the computer.

Rob Kling, Computerization and Social
Transformations, Science, Technology and Human
Values 16(3) (July 1991), pp.342-367.
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Internet, Extranet, Intranet
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Intranets A Technical Definition

• An intranet is the application of Internet
  technology, more specifically World Wide Web
  technology within the organizational boundary.
  The very same technology is applied (web servers,
  browsers, protocols, etc.), but access is
  restricted exclusively to organizational members
  for example by means of firewalls or physically
  separating the intranet from external networks
  (firebreaks).

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An Internet within the organization
Discussion groups, Email, news, FTP
Corporate Home page
Static Information
?
Search Engine
Different computing platforms
Organizational Databases
User with Browser
Legacy systems
Intranet Web Server
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Intranets Some interesting characteristics

• Ubiquitous computing paradigm, compared with
• 1970s centralized computing paradigm
  (mainframes)
• 1980s decentralized computing paradigm (e.g.
  PCs, office automation, e-mail, groupware)
• Intranet development has no well-defined
  organisational boundaries, functionality or time
  span
• Intranet technology is multi purpose and richly
  networked
• Built on top of existing network and IT
  infrastructure
• Often initiated outside formal IT section blurs
  user/developer role
• Multiple role players in different organisational
  units can be involved in implementing the
  intranet

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Background

• Key research question How are intranets
  implemented and used in large organisations?
• Research approach
• Understand deeper rather than broader
• Descriptive, in-depth, technology-specific
• Aim at understanding central implementation
  challenges, patterns
• Interpretive epistemological stance
• Methodology in-depth longitudinal case studies
• Period of the study mid 1996 present
• Empirical base four large organisations
• Denmark The LEGO Group, Novo Nordisk others
• South Africa The CSIR, Telkom
• Findings echoed in a number of Australian
  organisations

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Theoretical base

• Organisational change (e.g. Leavitt)
• Diffusion of Innovations (e.g. Rogers)
• Critical mass and interactive media (Markus)
• Implementation theory (e.g. Cooper Zmud
  Walsham Nolan Galliers Markus Orlikowski
  Lyytinen)
• Knowledge management (e.g. Alavi Leidner
  Davenport Nonaka)
• IT Outsourcing (e.g. Willcocks Lacity)

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The Key Results

• A taxonomy of intranet use modes
• Conceptual model of the process of intranet
  implementation (from conception to maturity)
  three central challenges
• Tactics to foster critical mass
• Key role players in the initiation and
  implementation process
• The mature Intranet (Intranet support for
  knowledge management processes)
• Intranets Make or Buy? (A taxonomy of different
  strategies)

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Intranet Technology Use Modes
"STRIP"

• ublishing
• ransacting
• nteracting
• earching
• ecording

Use mode
Examples
P
Use technology to publish home pages,
newsletters, technical documents, product
catalogues, employee directories, etc.
T
Use technology as front-end to transact with
functionality on intranet pages and other
organizational computer-based information systems
e.g. via web forms.
I
Use technology to interact with other individuals
and groups in the organization (e.g. via
discussion groups, collaborative applications)
S
Use technology technology to search for
organizational information (e.g. via search
engines, indexes, search agents, portals)
R
Use technology to record the computer-based
"organizational memory" (e.g. as a tool for
knowledge management)
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Density function of the time taken by different
segments of a population to adopt an innovation
Innovators
Early
Early
Late
Laggards
Adopters
Majority
Majority

Rogers (1995)
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Success and failure in the management of intranet
technology
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The Double Critical mass problem

• Need to attract users users are attracted by
  content Content is created by users
• We are talking about the hen and the egg
  problem. We had to get critical mass here,
  otherwise people would say this is nice, but
  theres nothing on it.

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Achieving Double Critical Mass Diffusion
Drivers
Timing of drivers is crucial E.g. knowledge
building, subsidy and mobilization, Later on
standardization
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Key Role Players during Intranet Initiation and
Implementation

• Five key interrelated roles
• Technology Champion
• Organizational Sponsor
• Intranet Coordinator
• Intranet Developer
• Content Provider

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Findings Implementation Roles
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Intranet support for knowledge management
processes

• Even minimal support may help!
• People sitting only a few 100 meters away from
  each other do not know they are working on
  similar things I am often amazed how much people
  re-invent, not because they want to but because
  they dont know it exists Vice President, LEGO
  Group, October 1998

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Nonakas (1998) model of organisational knowledge
creation processes
TACIT KNOWLEDGE
TACIT KNOWLEDGE
EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE
Socialization
Externalization
TACIT KNOWLEDGE
EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE
Internalization
Combination
TACIT KNOWLEDGE
EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE
EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE
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Primary intranet use modes for facilitating
knowledge creation
TACIT KNOWLEDGE
TACIT KNOWLEDGE
Recording
Interacting
Socialization
Externalization
EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE
TACIT KNOWLEDGE
Publishing
TACIT KNOWLEDGE
EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE
Internalization
Combination
Transacting
Searching
EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE
EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE
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Example Socialization (via intranet interaction)

• Connecting knowledgeable individuals
• Many-to-many interaction
• Poor substitute for face-to-face socialization,
  but reality in many dispersed settings
• Extend and sustain existing relationships
• Example The Wall

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Example Combination(via intranet searching)

• Intranet-based searching (flat, indexed, portals,
  engines, agents)
• Integrating existing pockets of knowledge
  dispersed throughout the organization
• Example to preventreinventing the wheel

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Example Internalization (via intranet
transactions)

• Transaction with intranet-enabled knowledge
  repositories, systems, databases
• Access possible with intranet (often for first
  time)
• You can ask without revealing your ignorance
  (anonymous telephone call)
• Example New employees view intranet as important
  learning environment

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Example Externalization (via intranet recording)

• Capturing organizational processes as they occur
• Like having a tape recorder running in the
  organization, building up an electronic record
• This record can be excavated later (also by
  others, with hindsight)
• Knowledge only apparent after the fact
• Example post-project, cross analysis

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Intranets and KM Findings

• Focus is on knowledge creation, rather than
  generalized KM
• Our processes are archetypical, but all
  applications are a mixture
• Malleability of intranet technology
• Importance of a vocabulary for KM and intranet
  managers
• With combined model possible to map
  organizational KM requirements onto the intranet
  (as opposed to just letting it happen)

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Intranet Technology developments since the mid
1990s

• Advanced tools for intranet development and
  maintenance have become widely accessible.
• Ready-made intranet-in-a-box packages now
  enable the implementation of an intranet without
  much in-house technical expertise.
• The rise in the use of the World Wide Web has
  elevated the general awareness and knowledge of
  Internet/intranet technologies.

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Formulating an intranet implementation strategy
(make vs buy)

• Implementation process In-house or outsourced
• Intranet architecture Tailor-made or ready-made

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The tailor-made intranet architecture

• Implemented using a wide range of tools and
  technologies
• Usually expensive because the development costs
  are amortized on a single organization.
• Requires a high level of technical knowledge and
  training of the implementers and content
  providers
• The tailor-made intranet architecture integrates
  well with applications that are already
  implemented in the organization - the intranet
  becomes a portal or gateway to existing
  technologies

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The ready-made intranet architecture

• Collection of well-tested applications with
  proven functionality.
• The typical price model is a low system purchase
  price and additional licenses paid per-user
• Licenses then cover incremental upgrades to the
  standard applications and functionalities.
• The organization must weigh the benefits of the
  applications with the fact that it will tie its
  processes to an inherently proprietary format.
• Important to analyse organizational requirements
  as well as market research of available products
  in order to choose an intranet package suits the
  requirements.
• Ready-made intranets provide an integrated
  product with a simple form-based user interface
  for handling the tasks of both intranet
  administration as well as the content updating,
  thus reducing the technical skills demands placed
  on in-house staff

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Four different Intranet implementation strategies
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Make or Buy Findings

• Most of the case organizations we studied, still
  pursue the homemade intranet as the de facto
  implementation strategy We expect this will
  change over time
• It is quite feasible for different strategies to
  be combined within the same organization Why?
• Commoditization of intranets will come
• Potential of lock-in with ready-made
  architectures
• The strong link between the application and the
  data suggests that companies may think that they
  control the data, but in reality they do not.
• Caution The relationship with an intra-in-a-box
  provider is more like a marriage and less like a
  date.

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References

• Damsgaard, J., Scheepers, R. (1999). Power,
  influence and intranet implementation a safari
  of South African organizations. Information,
  Technology People, 12 (4), 333-358.
• Damsgaard, J., Scheepers, R. (2000). Managing
  the crises in intranet implementation a stage
  model. Information Systems Journal, 10 (2),
  131-149.
• Damsgaard, J., Scheepers, R. (2001). Harnessing
  intranet technology for organisational knowledge
  creation. Australian Journal of Information
  Systems, Special Edition on Knowledge Management
  (December 2001), 4-15.
• Karlsbjerg, J., Damsgaard, J. Scheepers, R.
  (2003). A taxonomy of intranet implementation
  strategies to make or buy?, Journal of Global
  Information Management, 11 (3), 39-62.
• Scheepers, R. (2003) Intranet Heroes the
  Conquest and the Aftermath, forthcoming Journal
  of Information Technology.